Thursday, September 18, 2014

18 September 2014 (
Mikhail Shishkin theguardian) The formula for saving any dictatorship is
universal: create an enemy, start a war. We are back in Soviet times of total
lies. I remember
that as a child I read about black holes in a popular science magazine about
space and it scared me. The idea of our world being sucked into these breaks in
the universe kept bothering me until I realised that it all was so far away
that it would not reach us. But then a black hole tore our world very close to
us. It started sucking in houses, roads, cars, planes, people and whole
countries. RussiaandUkrainehave already fallen into this black
hole. And it is now sucking in Europein front of our eyes. This
hole in the universe is the soul of one very lonely ageing man. The black hole
is his fear. TV images of the demise of Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak and
Muammar Gaddafi were messages that fate sent him from exotic countries. Protest
rallies that gathered hundreds of thousands of people in Moscow ruined his inaugurationand signalled approaching
danger. The disgraceful flight of Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych earlier this yearset off alarm bells: if
Ukrainians could oust their gang, it could serve as an example for the
brotherly nation. The instinct of self-preservation kicked in immediately. The
formula for saving any dictatorship is universal: create an enemy, start a war.
The state of war is the regime's elixir of life. A nation in patriotic ecstasy
becomes one with its "national leader", while any dissenters can be
declared "national traitors".

Monday, September 15, 2014

September 14, 2014 (Based on reporting by Reuters, UNIAN and Interfax)Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey says that
unnamed NATO member countries are delivering weapons to Kyiv to fight
pro-Russian separatists.Heletey
said at a news conference in Kyiv on September 14 that he discussed weapons
needs with NATO defense ministers at the alliance's summit in Wales on
September 4-5. NATO officials have said the organization will not send
"lethal assistance" to Ukraine, although member states may do so.
Heletey said the weapons are needed to "stop" Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Ukraine and Western countries accuse Russia of sending
troops and equipment to the insurgents in eastern Ukraine but Russia denies the
charges. Heletey would not say who is providing Ukraine with weapons.
A nine-day cease-fire has been in effect in eastern Ukraine, where more than
2,600 people were killed in five months of fighting.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

9 September 2014 (BBC News Europe)Rebels in eastern Ukraine have freed 648
soldiers under the terms of the ceasefire with the government, the Ukrainian
military has said. Work was under way to free a further 500 soldiers, it added,
clarifying a statement by President Petro Poroshenko on Monday that 1,200 had
been freed. The rebels say that 311 of their men remain in government
captivity. Officials insist a ceasefire agreed last week appears to be holding,
despite several reports of clashes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
on Tuesday that the truce was being observed "in general".

Petro Poroshenko visited the embattled city of Mariupol on Monday

Meanwhile,
Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the situation in the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense. He accused the rebels of violating
agreements and shelling government forces' positions, while insisting that
Ukrainian troops had only fired in response. Mr Lysenko said that the ceasefire
had activated the process for releasing prisoners, with 648 Ukrainians freed so
far by the rebels, and work under way "to free about 500 more
prisoners". A rebel leader, Andrei Purgin, told Interfax news agency that a
further 36 people would be exchanged on Tuesday. Under the truce reached on
Friday, all captives held by both sides are due to be released. Five Ukrainian
soldiers have reportedly been killed since the ceasefire deal last Friday. Meanwhile,
EU member states have agreed to impose a new package of sanctions against
Moscow, to come into force in the coming days. EU ambassadors are set to meet
on Wednesday to discuss when the measures should be put in place. The timing is
expected to depend on their assessment of whether the ceasefire is holding in
eastern Ukraine. Diplomats say the new package will target Russian oil
companies Rosneft and Transneft and the petroleum unit of state gas monopoly
Gazprom. Their access to financial markets will be restricted - a serious
matter for Rosneft, which last month asked the Russian government for a $42bn
(£25.2bn) loan. Russia has warned that it could block international flights
through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new measures. On Monday, Mr
Poroshenko visited the port city of Mariupol, which has been under attack from
pro-Russian rebels. Russian gas exports will not be affected if new sanctions
are put in place, diplomats say Before the truce came into place, pro-Russian
separatists made big gains in eastern Ukraine and seized territory a few miles
outside Mariupol. The ceasefire deal, aimed at ending five months of fighting,
was reached in Minsk, Belarus, in talks brokered by the OSCE. Mr Poroshenko
appealed on Monday for the OSCE to send representatives to areas where the
ceasefire has been broken. Fighting in eastern Ukraine has left some 2,600
people dead since April.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

September 3
(Reuters) The French government can not go ahead with the planned delivery of a
first of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, the president’s office said
in a statement on Wednesday, citing Moscow’s recent actions in eastern Ukraine.
“The president of the Republic has concluded that despite the prospect of
ceasefire, which has yet to be confirmed and put in place, the conditions under
which France could authorize the delivery of the first helicopter carrier are
not in place,” President François Hollande’s office said.